


The One Where Peter Falls for A Nerdy Girl

by mrsanastaciabarnes



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27254578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsanastaciabarnes/pseuds/mrsanastaciabarnes
Summary: This work was requested and will be centered around lots of fluff.
Relationships: Natasha Romanoff/Bruce Banner, Peter Parker/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	1. Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was requested and will be centered around lots of fluff.

Peter never thought he would actually get to this point. He was officially a part of the team. Of course, he still lived with his aunt in Queens but he enjoyed his time at the tower when he was off from school for the weekends or different holidays. The avengers were like another family for him. He had not met all of the avengers yet though. Tony had said there was one person in particular who he had not met yet. Tony liked to play matchmaker with the avengers, that was no secret. He knew that when he first started hanging out with the other avengers, overhearing their conversations about how he tried to set them up with potential matches. He wasn’t very subtle about it either from what he understood. It wasn’t until one dinner one night when training ran late that he ran into her. She was sitting next to Bruce. He didn’t know that anyone else lived in the tower who was even close to his age. She was wearing one of bruce’s big tee shirts and it about swallowed her whole, it did not show a bit of her figure and baggy sweatpants. He had never seen someone so beautiful who appealed to him this much. Her glasses rested on the bridge of her nose and she had her hair up in a messy ponytail. He didn’t want to be rude and stare and his attention diverted almost immediately when bruce caught his gaze. He noticed that bruce’s jaw seemed to tense when he noticed what or specifically who he was looking at. Bruce didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to introduce her to him even though they had never met. Once the dinner was over, she stood up and went to the sink to rinse her plate, she had become accustomed to helping out with chores in the tower since she did live there. After she rinsed her plate and placed it in the dishwasher, she disappeared up the stairs, it peaked his curiosity but he wasn’t going to follow her. They hadn’t even been properly introduced and from the glare he received from Bruce, he definitely was not going to push it.

He was in Stark’s lab later while Stark was working on one of his suits, he couldn’t take it any longer. He had to at least know what her name was. “Hey… um Mister Stark… so I noticed there was a girl at dinner tonight and…” he was stammering. He wasn’t sure how to ask. Tony cut him off before he could continue. “Oh you mean (Y/n) Banner. Yeah she’s Banner’s daughter. You two would be cute together.” Stark couldn’t help the faint smile which formed on his lips as he expressed his own opinion on the both of them. “She’s near your age, homeschooled by Bruce. She’s his pride and joy though, I would be very careful. He is very protective of his daughter.” He said before he went back to focusing on the project that he had been before. It definitely made Peter think. How could he even talk to her? If Bruce was as protective as Stark had said, it would definitely be difficult to say the least to talk to her, to befriend her.

(Y/n) was working on her math review before her next test in Bruce’s lab. She finished pretty quickly. She could do complex math problems in her head so math was no issue at all for her. It was something she inherited from her father. Of course she was a little different in science. Science was not as easy in some aspects but she worked at it constantly, she strived to make her father proud of her. When she finally finished her work, she looked over at her father who was hunched over his computer. “Dad…” She said softly, unsure of how she would ask. He, of course, instantly stopped what he was doing to look over at her. She was his whole world, the most important person in the world to him, she even helped him keep from transforming into the other guy with ease. “I um… I was just wondering about the boy from dinner tonight.” She said shyly, picking at the skin around her nails nervously. She was afraid somewhat of his reaction towards her question but instead he looked at her for a moment and spoke calmly, he didn’t seem angry. “Are you done with your review?” He stepped over to check her work and kissed the top of her head. When he saw it was completed correctly, he simply rubbed her back for a moment before speaking “I think it’s getting close to time for you to go to sleep.” He seemed to be avoiding the subject. “Go on now you need your rest.” He said softly but with a hint of a stern tone. He kissed her forehead once more. “I’ll be up to check on you in a few minutes.” He assured her and she nodded, slowly getting up off of the stool she had been sitting on. She stretched gently and headed up the stairs. She rubbed her eyes. She was starting to feel tired. She wasn’t really paying attention to anything other than her own thoughts, she couldn’t help but think of the boy she had seen at dinner, she had tried not to stare but she had noticed him. She wondered about him, why hadn’t she ever seen him before in the tower? After all, she had practically grown up in her father’s lab and in the tower. She knew all of the avengers since birth really. He hadn’t approached her either which she figured was because of her father. He was very protective but she thought for good reason. He did try. That was enough for her. She didn’t have a mother to ask questions or talk to. He tried his best. She couldn’t blame him for that. She had noticed though that sometimes she would walk in on Natasha and her father in his lab, not that they were doing anything bad but she could tell there was some sort of connection there. She knew though that her father was trying to keep it a secret from her for some reason, maybe to protect her feelings? They had only had each other to be close to for as long as she could remember. She walked right into the boy from earlier, frowning a little as they bumped foreheads. She clutched her forehead “S-sorry.” She whispered. She looked at him for a moment. She couldn’t believe how cute he was. She noticed she was staring and tried to snap out of it, her cheeks turning a light pink as she blushed from the realization. “It’s totally fine. I wasn’t paying any attention.” He laughed a little, pushing his hand through his hair nervously as he looked at her, his eyes tracing her face and up and down her body as they stood there for a moment. “I’m um… I’m really tired so I… I need to be going. Sorry about that.” And as soon as the moment had started, it ended. She wasn’t sure what to say so she sort of panicked. She walked off quickly before he could say anything else. She knew her father wouldn’t be happy about it. She walked up another set of steps and finally came to her room. She breathed a soft sigh of relief and opened the drawer next to her bed, pulling out a bottle of ibuprofen, taking a couple to relieve the pain in her head before she placed the bottle back in the drawer. It had kind of hurt with the impact of the both of their heads hitting each other. She definitely didn’t want to disclose what had happened with the boy to her father. He was already overprotective. She didn’t want him to overreact. It wasn’t as if they had kissed or anything. There was nothing to worry him about. She settled into bed and closed her eyes, pulling the covers up to her chest, not realizing how tired she truly was until she layed down in bed. It was only a few minutes more before she had drifted fully to sleep and Banner entered the room carefully, noticing that she was asleep. He walked to her and kissed her forehead before turning out her lamp and quietly exiting the room, making sure to gently close the door behind himself. He made his way into his own room which was nearby, where it had been since she was little, in case she needed him.

The next morning, when Peter had to go back to school, he couldn’t really focus on that. All he could think about was her, so when Ned was explaining his new lego death star set that he wanted them to build together, he zoned out. He wasn’t paying attention to a single word he was saying. He was too focused on what had happened the night before, seeing her at dinner, bumping into her in the hallway, and what Mister Stark had said about her. He was interested in her and wondered about what her power was. Obviously she was smart, that’s why she was able to work with Banner in his lab. He was assuming though that that’s where she had been as it was the direction she had come from when they had bumped into each other. He finally snapped out of it when Ned began waving his hand in front of Peter’s face. He hadn’t really had much sleep that night as all he could think about was her, how he would strike up a conversation with her, he wanted to talk to her, get to know her. “S-sorry… my mind was somewhere else.” He checked his watch, five minutes to get to a class across the school. It would definitely take more than five minutes to get there. His eyes widened at the thought. “I gotta go, Ned. I’ll catch up with you later.” He said before he grabbed his books for the class and hurriedly shut his locker, rushing towards the stairs. He was hoping that the teacher wouldn’t be too tough on him for being late. It was his first time in a while after all.

Meanwhile, (Y/n) couldn’t focus on her studies. She had finished her math test and when her father tried to teach her a new concept, she was completely zoned out. He rattled off some question, expecting her to blurt out the answer but she didn’t. It was uncharacteristic of her. Her brain calculated math equations quite fast, faster than a calculator and even a computer. He called out her name a couple of times and finally got her attention. She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, slowly looking at her father. “Sorry I’m just distracted.” She whispered, feeling a little embarrassed that she hadn’t been paying attention to him. But instead of being mad at her, he offered a study break, which definitely distracted her from what she had been thinking about. Forget the new avenger, her father was going to take her roller skating. It had been a while since they had done anything together especially when she was supposed to be learning something. As they walked down to the garage, where her father’s car was, happiness swelled inside her. She was happy to be doing something different for a change. She did wonder though where the boy was from last night. Was he homeschooled too?


	2. Part 2

Peter was just getting out of school around three, it had been a couple of hours and he just couldn’t focus. He sent a text to his aunt to let her know that he would be going back to the tower for more training so he would be back late or the next day. Since it was Friday, he could stay over but just keep her informed, that’s all she asked of him really while he was at the tower. He headed to his car, he had finally learned to drive, and in celebration of that Tony had given him a car. He turned it on and as he navigated the traffic, all he could think about was her. Being stuck and stopped in traffic caused his mind to wander.

When she got done with roller skating, she and her father shared a pizza from the connected cafe that was inside the rink, Bruce had already helped her take off the skates so she wouldn’t slip and slide on the multicolored carpet under their feet. When they were done, they threw away their trash. She was really happy that they did this and it was the first time in a long time that she’d had any fun with her father. Everything had been about school and learning. She guessed he wanted a normal life for her even though she knew she could never really have that. On the ride back, he brought it up, something they hadn’t really discussed. “So.. I’m going to have you tested for powers other than your knowledge.” He said and looked over at her for a moment as he stopped at a red light. She was a little shocked by it. She didn’t think she had any powers but she had never been tested before. She just assumed she was normal other than her fast calculations. She had been quiet for a long time and on their way back, the traffic lights had started acting funny. They flashed different colors like they were glitching. She didn’t connect that to herself though. She didn’t really even notice. Once they arrived back though, her father asked her if it was okay, if she thought she was ready to be officially tested. She nodded softly. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be I suppose. I’m just a little nervous. Thanks for the roller skating though and pizza.” She smiled at the thought, she had really enjoyed spending time with her father. As they walked inside together, he wrapped an arm around her protectively, watching their surroundings until they were securely in the tower. He looked at her “There’s no reason to be nervous, alright? It doesn’t change you if you don’t have any powers. It doesn’t change my or anyone else’s perception of you.” He walked with her up to the training room andgave her a tight squeeze before he let her go to Tony to have the testing and possible training done. “I’ll be back a little later okay?” He watched her a little sadly as she made her way to Tony. He had done his best to keep her away from the dangerous stuff. The things he had to deal with with the avengers. He knew he couldn’t shield her from it forever, but it scared him to think that she might have to deal with the things that he had to deal with. He wasn’t too excited himself to let herself be exposed to training and to the possible powers she possessed but it wasn’t up to him, he couldn’t keep her hidden forever.

“So I’m just going out on a limb here but I’m going to guess that your powers are connected to your emotions in some way.” Tony paused for a moment “I don’t know what exactly, you might turn green when you’re angry just like your dad.” The thought of herself turning green made her nervous and the lights started to flicker in the room. “Well let’s hope that isn’t the case. I don’t particularly have the desire to turn green.” She said, growing more nervous by the second. The lights really started to flicker and then suddenly her nerves got the best of her. The whole tower’s power went off suddenly and the power outage spread throughout the city. The whole tower had begun to lock down. Metal started to cover the windows and alarms sounded as the lockdown commenced. “Jarvis status report.” Tony said, trying to cover up the fact that this did at least make him a little nervous. “The tower is locking down because of a power outage.” Jarvis said and she was starting to breathe heavily. She was growing more nervous, her nerves were getting the best of her. And so unbeknownst to them, all of the city’s power went out completely all of a sudden for some unknown reason to others who were not in the tower. Bruce came rushing in the door for answers when he saw his daughter, she was breathing heavily and clutching at her head. He could tell she was panicking. The look in her eye reminded him of himself, a look of complete fear, when he had begun to transform into the hulk. He approached her immediately, unafraid of her, or what her possible powers could be. He assumed it might have something to do with the sudden power outage. He took her hands carefully away from her face. “Look at me, honey. I need you to breathe with me okay?” He had already suspected before that it was not just a coincidence when the power went out while she was upset or the lights acting weird. He helped her breathe in and out until her breathing was normal, helping her back to a non-panicked state “I am so proud of you, sunshine.” He said softly when she was breathing normally and looking at him. Just at those words, she hugged him tightly, not afraid of how it looked to anyone else. She was so grateful that he had been there. The lockdown ceased once she was truly calm and the lights came back on immediately, not just in the tower but throughout the city as well. Bruce rocked her back and forth gently as he held her. Maybe she just wasn’t ready yet. He finally looked at her “Are you alright now? Is this still okay for you? I can stay in the room if you would like… if that would help you.” He rubbed her back gently as he kept her in his embrace. She nodded a little, her dad always took extra measures to make sure that she was okay since she was very small, he was protective but not in a suffocating way, he did make it clear early on though of “no boys.” She had not ever had a problem with that rule as there was no one around her age who lived in the tower or even visited. She had thought about the new avenger but for her dad’s sake, she wasn’t planning on mentioning him again seeing as how his reaction was the last time when she brought him up. Bruce ended up standing outside the door, Tony promising to come get him if it was needed, she had slowly calmed down, it had been easier with her father there with her. Tony had handed her a pair of clothes to change into. A pair of shorts and a tank top, just to make it easier on her because of the training she was going to endure. She did have powers, Tony was sure of that after the power had gone out so easily when her mood changed. Tony wasn’t sure exactly how to train her but would try his best. Tony had started to ease her into the training, he came up with different scenarios. One frustrated her. It included her father. And Wanda had stepped in to further the situation, to make it more real to her. Wanda manipulated (y/n)’s mind. Suddenly her hands started to turn a green shade, her fingers changing color from her normal skin tone to a light shade of green and electricity was forming at her fingertips. The power started to turn on and off rapidly. She was breathing heavily. Peter walked in, at the exact worst time. When he stepped in, she was still in a manipulated mindset. Electricity pulsed from her fingers and made its target at the sudden noise. It hit Peter like a ton of bricks as she zapped his foot whether it have been intentional or not, it still hurt him. “Ow!” He held onto his foot at the piercing pain and fell to the floor. Her powers were a lot stronger than Tony had thought they would be. Wanda let go of the manipulation and suddenly her skin color on her hands changed back to its original skin color and her eyes went wide as she realized the boy she had been thinking about earlier was in pain on the floor. Wanda rushed to get him ice and Tony laughed a little but bent down to help him to a chair. “Mister Stark this isn’t funny.” He whined quietly as he clutched his foot. Bruce rushed into the room when Wanda had left in a hurry to make sure his daughter was okay. He couldn’t bear to see her hurt. One time in his training with Wanda, though he insisted the Hulk did not need any training, that the only thing the other guy did was ruin things, he had seen her in the vision. It was supposed to make him stronger but that only made him more vulnerable. When he had seen it, it only took seconds for his heart rate to skyrocket. His daughter was who he cared the most about. The sight of her dead body, knowing it was his fault, in the manipulated vision was enough to make him transform faster than he ever had on any given mission or really any time. His heart had begun to pound in his chest at the thought of his daughter being hurt. He reached the door and forced it open, not bothering with the security measures placed on the door, he ripped it off the hinges. He couldn’t bear to toy with it until it opened even though obviously it would open for him. Tony looked up for a second at the sound of the door being thrown down and ripped off the hinges. He just let out a sigh, knowing he couldn’t stop this. Bruce immediately hugged his daughter tightly. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?” He was worried about her, checking over her for any damage that may have been done physically. When he assessed her outward appearance, he didn’t even notice that he was starting to turn green, his hands. She noticed though and took his hands, closing her eyes. Slowly, he started to turn back and let out a soft sigh “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He mumbled, keeping her wrapped in his embrace. She looked over at Peter and mouthed an apology. “Well we found out what her powers are.” Tony let out a soft laugh as he placed some ice on Peter’s foot having him hold pressure on it for the moment until they could really look at the damage. Bruce looked over curiously. “What is it?” He was completely oblivious. She looked up at him, deciding she should be the one to tell him. “I accidentally shocked him with my powers, kind of zapped him, and I can turn the power on and off through the tower… and my hands started to turn green.” She added the last part softly as she hesitantly looked up at her father. He wasn’t angry though, he was amazed that she had such powers, he wasn’t even mad about her shocking someone. He looked at her for a moment, a small smile playing on his lips. “I’m so proud of you.” He brushed some hair out of her face and paused to think before he opened his mouth to speak again “How about let’s go to a movie tonight? We haven’t done that in a while huh?” He wasn’t planning on telling the others specifically Natasha, not until he had to. He looked over at Tony “No one else needs to know yet.” He said seriously as he let his daughter change back into her other clothes in the bathroom. He led her out once she had changed back. Bruce was not worried at all about Peter. To him, Peter was just some punk kid who was trying to move in on his daughter. That was not about to happen especially not on his watch.


	3. Part 3

Peter couldn’t believe what had just happened. He had been shocked by the girl he liked, literally. Her father seemed determined to stay between them so he definitely wasn’t about to push it. He had seen how Bruce could be when he transformed. He did not want to test the Hulk on someone who Bruce cared about, and who knows the Hulk might care about her too. That would make it even worse. He held the ice against his foot until Tony was able to take a good look at his foot. He had watched more so in curiosity than fear as Tony pulled out a white box and fished out a bottle of ointment. He handed it to Peter and looked at him seriously. “You definitely need to wash your foot with antibacterial soap and then put on this ointment, okay?” He handed it to him but Peter just frowned and winced at his own attempt to put pressure on the foot. “Here I’ll help you.” Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and helped him upstairs and with washing the foot and everything that had to be done, promising that he would only be a call away by JARVIS if he needed absolutely anything. Once he had left, Peter felt a little more alone. He wanted to actually be at least friends with someone who was like him, someone who had abilities, someone who at least understood what it was like, everything he was going through but Bruce was definitely blocking that. As he closed his eyes, he could see her. He could see her beautiful face, her green eyes. He had seen the look on her face when she had shocked him. He knew it couldn’t have been intentional… could it have? Now he felt like he was just overthinking it. He finally fell asleep in the room that Tony had set up for him when he had decided he was going to be an avenger, of course, he’d had to have a room in the tower even if he wasn’t there all the time. He tried not to think any more about it as he slept, allowing his mind to wander to something else besides her.

Bruce and his daughter slipped back into the tower later. She had been so happy to spend more time with her father when it wasn’t just in the lab doing schoolwork. It seemed that since the new boy arrived, he had decided to spend more time with her doing things they would both enjoy. He had even let her pick out whatever snacks she wanted at the theater. They hadn’t been to a movie theater in so long but she assumed it was because of the whole avengers thing. They had even stopped for pizza on the way back to the tower. Once they arrived back though, Bruce walked with her to her room, he told her goodnight and helped her into her bed, turning off the lamp after he kissed her forehead.

Once Bruce made it back to his room, he smiled a little, he could see Natasha dancing around in the kitchen in his mind to a song she was playing downstairs while she made herself food, “Just the two of us.” That was song they used to both share a love for. He shook his head a little. He missed her, missed holding her and spending time with her. He could even hear the words as she lip-synced to them. It was almost as if he was watching her right in front of him. He couldn’t help the smile on his face. Since his daughter had been born, he wondered if it was the right decision for Natasha to separate herself from him. He wondered if she thought about him too, if she reminisced about the old days.

It was late at night, Natasha didn’t think that Tony would be watching his cameras. Most everyone was in bed but she had a late craving for a sandwich. She had asked Jarvis to play “Just the two of us” on the kitchen speaker, not loud enough to disturb the others though since she was pretty sure everyone was asleep. As the song played though, memories played through her head about Bruce and her in previous years well before (Y/n) was born specifically. Those days had been so amazing other than the fact that when they had missions together, Bruce tried to protect her as much as possible, there were even times when the Hulk had protected her on missions intentionally. She wondered deep down if Bruce ever still thought about her. These days they avoided each other for the most part. She wondered if it would ever be possible for them to go back to the start, how they were before his daughter. They had decided before she had been born that they would not tell (Y/n) who her mother was which was part of the reason they had been avoiding each other. Of course, at times they exchanged longing glances across the room but they couldn’t really act on feelings if they both still harbored them towards each other. She wasn’t sure how Bruce felt about her and she wasn’t sure how it would feel to actually hang out with him again even semi-close to the way they had before. She thought that his daughter might get suspicious with her being around Bruce so that was one of the reasons she left it alone, she knew it wasn’t exactly her place to tell (Y/n) who her mother is, they had originally agreed to let Bruce do it when the time was right. It just wouldn’t be right, at least that’s what she thought.

When Bruce had fallen asleep, he dreamed about her, about Natasha and the first time they had spent time together. The movie marathons on the couch, it was the first time she had felt comfortable enough to snuggle up with him. It had been very slow for them to actually get comfortable with each other but once they did it felt as if the time was so short together even though essentially they lived together in the tower. He did his best to protect her until one day he couldn’t. He had been in his lab when she came in, her hands shaking, fear in her eyes as she was holding two pregnancy tests. He didn’t know she could get pregnant because of how she explained what had happened in the red room, how she couldn’t have children. He thought he wasn’t able to have children either because of the radiation he had been exposed to. The memory had been permanently etched in his mind of the day her water broke, how he had to help her through it and deliver the baby, after all he was the only doctor in the avengers tower. He couldn’t believe how beautiful their baby was when he held her for the first time. He regretted letting go of Natasha so easily but they both knew how much danger they would be putting (y/n) in because of Natasha’s background with the red room and of course her father being the hulk. They had thought at the time it was the best choice for the both of them, for the wellbeing of their daughter, the safety of their daughter.

Bruce had decided for her own safety to keep her closed off from Peter. Her powers were huge and if not controlled, it could mean danger for everyone and not just those who lived in the tower. He had wanted to keep her away from the other avengers but that just was simply not possible. It was not as if he could keep her prisoner but after the last encounter with Peter, it was for his safety as well as hers, at least as far as he was concerned. Of course, she was still allowed to train with Tony but only under close supervision of bruce just in case something were to happen. And her normal exercise was allowed, she enjoyed swimming more than any other exercise, it relaxed her more than anything else and she didn’t have to calm herself down from it. She was sort of like Bruce in terms of that, if her blood pressure went up and/or her heart rate, she had to calm herself down or it would go into something she couldn’t entirely control.

Peter wasn’t entirely sure why he hadn’t seen the girl much. He didn’t know what he had done wrong and when he tried to ask Mister Stark about it, he avoided his question completely and tried to steer him onto a different subject. It was really beginning to hurt his feelings because even though they did not know each other, he felt a connection, and he wanted to know her. He figured he was just being avoided. Of course, he still had school and the debate team to keep him distracted as well as his training but he couldn’t stop thinking about what he could have done different.

It was a couple of months later when the avengers were called for an important mission. They only had a few days to pack for it and when bruce finally told his daughter about it, she was a little worried naturally. It would be months with her left at the tower without him or the other avengers. She hadn’t ever been without her father there though he assured her that she would be fine. He failed to mention though that Peter would be staying there while the rest of the avengers were away. Bruce wasn’t too thrilled either to be leaving his daughter especially with some boy who seemed to have a crush on his daughter. He assured her though that he left lessons for her to do while he was gone and that he would contact her when he could. He didn’t want to leave her.

When the morning came for them to leave, he had kissed her forehead and hugged her goodbye. He even almost cried, not wanting to be separated from her. He knew he would be worried about her the whole time which would be so difficult for him. He finally picked up his bags and hugged her one last time with a soft “I’ll miss you, sunshine” before he headed out of the tower. As they drove away, he leaned his head against the window as the tower became more and more out of sight. Above all, he didn’t want Peter to think it was okay to mess with his daughter while he was away. He was just trying to protect her really by keeping her separated from him. He had learned his lesson, someone like him just wasn’t cut out for love and since she was like him, she would figure that out soon enough. He just didn’t want her to find out the hard way, like he had found out. “It’ll be okay, Bruce. I promise.” Natasha said softly as she looked over at him, knowing he was already becoming overcome with worry. Of course he didn’t really have her to truly worry about. She had powers, special powers, she could easily defend herself if she needed to. That was something entirely different that he had to worry about as well, she was still a danger to the public, like he felt he would always be.


End file.
